Town centre walk-in GP service to move to Crawley Hospital

A Crawley town centre walk-in GP service will move to Crawley Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at the end of the month.

A spokesman for Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said the service would move from Crawley Health Centre when its contract expires on September 30.

The move from the site in Haslett Avenue West was part of expansion plans set for the UTC.

Dr Ketan Kansagra, clinical lead for the transformation of urgent care in Crawley, said: “I am delighted that we are in the process of finalising our plans to expand the Urgent Treatment Centre and Clinical Assessment Unit at Crawley Hospital.

“A separate children’s treatment area will enable more patients to be treated closer to home, rather than travelling to the Children’s Assessment Unit at East Surrey Hospital.

“The clinical assessment unit will have more beds, enabling staff to treat more patients with a broader range of conditions.

“We are working very hard to get these plans approved, as we feel this will bring more services back to Crawley Hospital.”

It was hoped a centralised expansion of services at the hospital will allow greater scope for treatment and improved patient care.

The spokesman said the decision followed a three-month engagement process with Crawley residents and stakeholders.

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the UTC handles a wide range of injuries and conditions from sprains and strains, broken bones, minor burns and scalds to minor head and eye injuries, bites and stings. No appointment is necessary and you will be seen by either a doctor or nurse.

Councillor Brenda Smith (Lab, Langley Green) who has branded the consultation process ‘an assault to democracy’ was concerned the move would mean a reduction of health services.

She said: “I’m still concerned that there will be a reduction following the end of this contract with the NHS.

“One of my concerns has always been where it was in the town centre was advantageous for people to go in.

“To take it out to West Green makes it less accessible to a lot of people because it always means a bus ride.

“I hope that it will mean an expansion services and not a reduction because the Urgent Treatment Centre was already open 24 hours a day so there’s no gain in that but patients who had been registered with the walk-in centre have been displaced and also patients who had been at Leacroft Surgery in Langley Green are now looking at finding a GP service which is close to their neighbourhood.

“It’s a concern that this is not an increase in service and is a reduction.

“We don’t want to see people disenfranchised.”

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